Beware of calls from shady, unlicensed collection agencies and their verbal threats to garnish your wages.

I recently heard about people receiving repeated calls from the PDLR Group. Apparently representatives from PDLR were threatening to garnish people’s wages and consumers wanted to know if this was legitimate.

One individual questioned the legitimacy of the PDLR Group since the company had not indicated the name of the creditor to whom money is supposedly owed.

Furthermore PDLR had not sent the person a written validation notice (essentially, a letter stating who the person owes and how much). If a consumer requests it, a debt collector must send a written validation letter to the consumer under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Just as an FYI, there have been numerous complaints posted on 800notes.com  from individuals who have received a call from at least one number associated with the PDLR group – 877-269-0088. The company doesn’t appear to be licensed in the state of Illinois, where it is based.

Regardless of PDLR’s status, just be aware that as a consumer, anytime someone contacts you claiming you owe a debt, you do have the right to know who the company is, how much was allegedly owed, and whether or not the person trying to get you to pay up is legally permitted to collect that debt.